MIAMI BOOK FAIR & THE NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION PRESENT THE 2024 TEENS READ: NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

ALI TERESE is a middle grade and young adult author who writes funny and heartfelt stories, including Free Period (Scholastic Press) and the forthcoming Votes for G.O.A.T.S (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster). Her work has received the National Book Award Longlist honor, a School Library Journal starred review, and an AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award, and was a Kids’ Indie Next selection. Visit Terese online at aliterese.com for book bonuses, giveaways, and resources like discussion guides, recipes, and craftivism projects.

ANGELA SHANTÉ is an author and former New York City K-12 teacher by trade. In addition to her writing, she is a multihyphened artist who consults on creative, educational, and culturally relevant projects. She lives in California with her dog, Blue.

ERIN ENTRADA KELLY was awarded the Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe, and a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space. She grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and now lives in Delaware. She is a professor of children’s literature in the graduate fiction and publishing programs at Rosemont College, where she earned her MFA, and is on the faculty at Hamline University. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Philippines Free Press Literary Award for Short Fiction and the Pushcart Prize. Before becoming a children’s author, Kelly worked as a journalist and magazine editor, and received numerous awards for community service journalism, feature writing, and editing from the Louisiana Press Association and the Associated Press. Her debut novel, Blackbird Fly, was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, an ALSC Notable Book, and an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book recipient. She is also the author of The Land of Forgotten Girls, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature; You Go First, an Indie Next Pick; Lalani of the Distant Sea, an Indie Next Pick; Those Kids from Fawn Creek, named to numerous best-of-the-year lists; the acclaimed The First State of Being; and four popular novels for younger readers: Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey, Surely Surely Marisol Rainey, Only Only Marisol Rainey, and Felix Powell, Boy Dog, which she also illustrated.

JOHNNIE CHRISTMAS is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling graphic novelist and author-illustrator of the critically acclaimed middle-grade book Swim Team: A Graphic Novel (HarperAlley). It was longlisted for the National Book Award and was a Coretta Scott King Honor Book for illustration and a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2022, and it received a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award honor. He calls Vancouver, British Columbia, home.

JOSH GALARZA is a longtime Montessori educator who writes fiction and creative nonfiction. He is also a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking and book arts. His research centers around male gender performance, queer issues, body liberation, and Chicano studies. His debut novel, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky (Henry Holt & Company), was recently longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. ​ Galarza earned his B.A. in English and BFA in art from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he later taught printmaking. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia, where he teaches in the English department at Virginia Commonwealth University while completing an MFA in creative writing.

OLIVIA A. COLE is a writer from Louisville, Kentucky. Her essays have been published in Bitch Media, Real Simple, the Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Gay Mag, and more. She is also the author of several books for children and adults.